Deal's order applies to residents of Chatham, Bryan, Liberty, McIntosh, Glynn and Camden counties. He also called for the voluntary evacuation of residents of low-lying areas west of I-95.

After closing the eastbound ramps of I-16, the Georgia State Patrol issued a warning to drivers.

“The flow of traffic on I-16 will be converted to only WB as soon as the EB lanes have been cleared,” officials said in Twitter posts. “Don’t drive around traffic barriers. They’ve been put in place for your safety & the safety of other drivers.”

At least 29 people in the Caribbean died as Matthew cut through Haiti, Cuba and the Bahamas, according to The Associated Press. Twenty three of those deaths were reported by Haiti's civil protection agency. There are also 27 people injured and three others missing, Haitian officials said.

Matthew was working its way through the Bahamas early Thursday amid forecasters’ predictions it would be near Florida’s Atlantic coast by Thursday evening and reach coastal Georgia Friday afternoon.

The eye of Matthew was about 165 miles southeast of West Palm Beach, Channel 2 meteorologist Brad Nitz said just before 11:50 a.m.

Georgia has not had a direct hit from a hurricane in more than a century. The mandatory evacuation order and I-16 closure came a day after Deal expanded a state of emergency from 13 to 30 counties in the southeastern region of the state. Governors in three other states — Florida, South Carolina and North Carolina — also declared states of emergency and issued evacuation orders. A motorist shot in an altercation with a South Carolina deputy over a Hurricane Matthew evacuation route died, The AP reported.

Government buildings were boarded up on Tybee Island, where a mandatory evacuation went into effect at 3 p.m. Wednesday. Chatham urged residents of all three islands and low lying areas east of the Wilmington River to evacuate starting at 8 a.m. All areas in and about rivers or tributaries were encouraged to evacuate, too.

“Any person that elects not to evacuate should be prepared to ride out the storm in a secure area with three days’ non- perishable provisions and adequate drinking water, given the potential for loss of power for 72 hours or greater,” authorities said.

Matthew could also affect the University of Georgia’s football game against the University of South Carolina on Saturday night. School officials are monitoring the weather conditions to decide if they’re going to have to move the game or cancel it.

“We anticipate a decision about the game to be made on Thursday,” South Carolina school officials said on Twitter. “The safety of everyone affected by the storm and the minimization of the impact on emergency personnel are the most important factors in making the decision.”